


Who Needs Tissues at Graduations? (Certainly not Tony Stark)

by starbird16



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Precious Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:35:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25236286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starbird16/pseuds/starbird16
Summary: Peter struggles to ask Tony to come to his impending high school graduation, but he finally finds the words. Too bad those words were accidentally broadcasted to the rest of the Avengers.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 145
Collections: Irondad and his Iron kids, The Friendly Neighborhood Exchange, carolina’s | fics that have been devouRED





	Who Needs Tissues at Graduations? (Certainly not Tony Stark)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AliceCasch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliceCasch/gifts).



> Written for the Friendly Neighborhood Exchange 2020
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this and participating in the fic exchange. It is my first time ever fulfilling a prompt, gifting a work, or participating in a fic exchange. I hope you like it :)

Peter sensed an incoming blast just before a column to his right crashed down inches away from where he was just crouching defensively. Even though he was now in the clear, he flinched reflexively, jumping back and sticking to the cracked ceiling.

Is it just me, Peter thought, or are these training simulations feeling more and more real?

It had been roughly three months since both Tony Stark and Aunt May deemed him old enough to finally start training with the Avengers. Captain America’s leadership skills in the field combined with Tony’s new simulation technology made for some exciting training sessions. Today was the big face-off between some of the Avengers and the evil, dastardly, completely made-up doomtrons.

Because Stark’s simulation technology could be programmed to project practically any villain (or combination) imaginable, the Avengers had gotten creative with choosing their faux foes. The latest one, which they were up against today, was a combination of Ultron himself and Dr. Doom’s doom bots.

Feeling cornered, he activated his private comm link to Iron Man. “Hey, so, um, Mr. Stark?” 

“Yeah,” Tony’s tinny voice answered from his end of the comm, “I’m a little busy here, Underoos. These doomtrons aren’t going to shoot themselves.”

Attempting to circle back to the main group, Peter nodded, already feeling guilty for potentially distracting his mentor. “Right, sorry, it’s just, I, uh…” Peter faltered, at a loss for how to phrase his next statement. Taking a breath, he tried again.

“I kind of need to ask you something, but like, it’s not important or anything, so you don’t even have to worry about it until after we beat the bad guys, so…” Peter trailed off, not exactly sure when the right time would be to ask his mentor something that, despite what he said, really was important to him. With the encouragement and urging of Aunt May, Peter had resolved to ask his father figure to come to his high school graduation that was taking place in just one week. He only now realized that asking Mr. Stark in the middle of a major training session was perhaps not the best approach.

Sensing Peter wouldn’t be able to focus until he said his peace, Tony cut in, “Just spit it out, Pete. Whatever you have to say can’t be as bad as the time you told me Aunt Hottie knew about your little after-school pajama hobby.”

Both heroes shuddered in unison at the memory of experiencing the wrath of May Parker upon finding out that her nephew had been galavanting around in tights as a vigilante.

“First off, never call Spider-Man an ‘after-school pajama hobby’ again.” Peter stuck his tongue out beneath his mask. “That just sounds so weird.”

“And second? The thing you wanted to tell me?” Tony prompted again, sighing as he tried not to get exasperated.

“Um, yeah, right. Okay, here goes…” Peter took another deep breath before rapidly continuing, “Will you come to my graduation? I mean, I’m graduating high school, in like, a week, in case you didn’t know. And also, do you think you might want to come? Because Aunt May said you would want to come and that I should invite you but I really don’t know if-”

“Underoos,” Tony interrupted, “I’m gonna stop you right there and put you out of your misery.”

Peter visibly deflated until Tony continued, “Of course I’m coming to your graduation. FRIDAY’s only had it on my calendar for six months. Isn’t that right, dear?”

FRIDAY responded in the comms, “Affirmative, boss. It is marked on the same day Mr. Hogan asked me to leave you a reminder to bring tissues.”

Relieved his part in asking was over, Peter giggled at that new information. He hadn’t thought Happy was the joking type.

“Wow, Mr. Stark, I knew you cared a little bit, but I didn’t know I would be getting the waterworks treatment when I graduate,” Peter said with a playful smirk.

Tony brushed it off quickly, saying, “Sorry kiddo. That tissue reminder has nothing to do with your graduation. It just happens to be the same day that my order of onions is being delivered to the compound. Just thought I would need something to wipe away my chemically oxide-induced tears.”

Peter stifled a laugh, “That is the most ridiculous lie I have ever-”

His quip was cut off at the sound of an electronic bell ringing, signaling the end of the exercise. "Huh, I guess Mr. Captain America and the others finished off the rest of the baddies while I was talking to Mr. Stark," he muttered to himself.

Peter made his way to the debriefing room of the Avengers compound, which was where they always talked about the mission or training session, and how they could improve as a team. Peter was the last to arrive in the debriefing room. He could see Hawkeye and Black Widow already in their usual seats next to each other, conversing quietly. Captain America and the Falcon sat at one end of the table while Iron Man and War Machine sat at the other.

Inhaling suddenly, Peter’s heart warmed when he realized that Mr. Stark had saved him a seat right next to him. Whipping off his mask and dropping it on the table, Peter turned his attention to Captain America, who was about to speak.

“You should all feel proud of yourselves. Today, we worked as a team to take down the, er, the…” Steve glanced at Clint, whose idea it was to simulate the latest villains.

“Doomtrons,” Clint supplied, after getting an elbow to the ribs from Natasha for not paying attention.

“Right,” Steve continued, “The… doomtrons. We will discuss their low likelihood of being real later, but for now, I’d say they were a good tool to practice dealing with swarms and working together in general. However, I have very recently gotten news that there is something more important that we need to discuss first.”

After a dramatic pause, Steve continued, “Peter, congratulations. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are very proud of you for this accomplishment.” Oblivious to Peter’s quickly reddening face, he added, “I think it’s especially impressive to graduate high school with such good grades while continuing to patrol Queens as Spider-Man.”

Peter, who was not at all used to attention, finally had to bury his face in Tony’s shoulder just after sharing a puzzling look with his mentor. It was clear neither of them knew how Captain America knew about his upcoming graduation. Even though Peter and Steve had worked as a team for a couple months, personal details like graduations just didn’t come up in conversation, what with Peter barely being able to utter a coherent sentence at the famous World War II hero.

Not caring to wonder how he found out any longer, Tony finally spoke up and asked, “Did I miss the memo where you were part-time mentor of the Spider-Baby? Because I sure didn’t sign any custody release papers.”

“Tony, what on earth are you talking about?” Steve said, perplexed.

“I’m talking about how you knew about the kid’s graduation! Last I checked, you and Pete are barely on a first name basis.” Tony said, frowning.

The other Avengers in the room looked around at each other, not sure what to say, until finally Clint spoke up.

“You know, Stark, next time the kid’s about to tell you something important and probably very personal, maybe make sure your comms aren’t set to have everybody tune in.”

Tony’s face changed from confusion to embarrassment as Clint’s statement sunk in.

“You really mean to tell me that all of you, including Captain McRighteous, were eavesdropping the whole time, and not one of you cared to tell me you could hear us?”

“To be fair, Mr. Stark,” Peter piped up, “Karen did just have a software update. I think maybe she got the comms settings confused?”

Steve cut in, “Regardless of how we know, Peter, we really are proud of you.” He added softly, “You’re a good kid, the best of all of us.”

Peter smiled at the compliment, barely able to contain his strange mixture of joy and embarrassment. But what really tipped his emotions over the edge was when Tony, the closest thing he had to a father, whispered in his ear. “He’s right, you know.” Tony’s quiet words tickled his ears, “I couldn’t be prouder of the hero you’ve become, both as Spider-Man and Peter Parker. I can’t wait to see how you’ll change the world.”

One week later, as Peter ambled across the stage in his robe and tassel, it turned out Happy was right about Tony needing to bring tissues to the graduation. As he watched his surrogate son grin wildly as he accepted his diploma, Tony ended up needing them all.


End file.
